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WSOP PLO8 Events- 5 Things to Think About

I don’t claim to be the master of the World Series. I’ve only made it out there 2 years, and this year I’m not going to make it. Its not baller, but sometimes things like jobs and families get in the way……. Last year I made it out was able to play in the $1500 PLO8. I didn’t cash but I learned a lot. Here are some of my takeaways from that trip, in no particular order:

1) The structure is nice and slow so there is no need to rush- The structure is much slower than a typical online tournament. Also, since this is live poker and you’re playing fewer hands per hour, when you go through a stretch when you don’t pick up any hands it feels like forever. Don’t let that induce you to get impatient and fire your chips in a bad spot.

2) Most players are bad- In a way this is no different than an online tournament, but being live poker they will be even worse. Just watch out because the PLO8 specialists will be sprinkled in as well. You should be able to figure out who’s who after a couple of orbits.

3) If you recognize someone from TV, they might be really bad- PLO8 is a niche game that few people have taken the time to really learn, so there are going to be a lot of people who aren’t familiar with it. The WSOP event is nice because a lot of pros with big bankrolls will sign up for any event in an attempt to win a bracelet whether they know the game or not. Its funny to watch some people who may be world class hold’em players make some really weird plays.

4) Hang on to a rebuy chip or 2 at least for a little while- The rebuy chips are a cool feature of this event. Opinions vary on the proper strategy for using them. Whatever you decide to do, hang onto some of them for at least a couple of orbits so you can get some sort of read on the other players at the table. In the early goings you have no idea if a players getting all of their chips in is doing it because they don’t know the game and are way overvaluing their hand, or if they are an Omaha 8 nit-reg that only gets it in with the nuts. Usually its the former, but its nice to not have to put your tournament life at risk early to find out.

5) Staying at the Gold Coast is really cheap and convenient- Not the greatest hotel on the face of the earth, but its an easy walk to the Rio from there. There’s never much point in spending much money on a hotel room in Vegas you aren’t going to spend a lot of time in anyway.

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on Friday, June 24th, 2011 at 4:59 am and is filed under PLO8.
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